Pork from the ‘cliff’

Boston Herald editorial staffFriday, January 04, 2013

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In keeping with the Obama administration’s mantra of finding opportunity in any good crisis, it’s the fine print in that 150-page “fiscal cliff” agreement that is well worth a good read — and it would all make for a good laugh if we taxpayers weren’t footing the bill.

Yes, while taxing all those “millionaires and billionaires” (or actually those making over $400,000 a year — whatever), the president and his buds in Congress (Republicans and Democrats) managed to lard it up with the usual giveaways to the usual suspects.

Sure, the price of milk will be held steady, but there’s also a nice little $222 million bonus on for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — excise taxes on those rums consumed here on the mainland will go back to the islands. Isn’t that special?

The president mentioned tax credits for college tuitions, but it must have slipped his mind to mention the $430 million in tax credits for his pals in Hollywood — “special expensing rules” to promote TV and film production in the U.S.

There’s also a $78 million giveaway for NASCAR facilities done by “extending the seven-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities,” $59 million for growers of algae that can be used as a biofuel, and $4 million in green tax credits for consumers who are hankering to buy electric motorcycles. The list totals about $40 billion.

And you, dear taxpayers, thought it was all about saving you from going over the fiscal cliff. Well, think again.